1. Field of the Invention
The present embodiment of invention relates to portable computing devices and, in particular, to managing power consumption of a portable computing device based on workflow of the portable computing device.
2. Description of the Background Art
The use of portable computing devices has become commonplace for many users. In addition to having a conventional desktop computer, many users also have some type of portable computing device. Examples of present-day computing devices include electronic devices for reading. Smaller portable computing devices include a plethora of smart phones. There have also been increased sales of notebook laptops and tablet computers offering different levels of processing capability and size.
Portable computing devices commonly send and receive data using wireless communication. Accordingly, most portable computing devices include one or more wireless transceivers to transmit and receive data using one or more wireless networks. For example, many current portable computing devices include a transceiver for transmitting and receiving data using a network compliant with the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) standard, commonly called a “3G network” and a second transceiver for transmitting and receiving data using a Wireless Fidelity network, commonly called a “WiFi network.” However, operating multiple transmitters increases the power consumed by a portable computing device, often draining the portable computing device's battery more rapidly. To improve battery life, many portable computing devices allow different wireless transceivers to be disabled, which limits the network connectivity of the portable computing device while increasing its battery life. For example, a portable computing device may manually disable a 3G transceiver while leaving a WiFi transceiver enabled. As 3G transceivers generally consume more power, such a modification would extend the battery life of the portable computing device. However, conventional techniques for enabling and disabling transceivers require users to manually enable and disable transceivers, increasing complexity and requiring active user involvement as the location or operation of the portable computing device changes.
Display devices and other components also further increase the power consumption of portable computing devices. Conventionally, users manually modify the operation of a display device by reducing brightness or specifying time intervals after which the display device enters a power saving mode or turns off or modify whether or not different components are turned on to manage power consumption. However, these actions require a specific user interaction to modify display device or other component operation. Like manually enabling or disabling transceivers, manual modification of a display device, or of another component, increases user complexity and requires a user to remember what has been done to a display device or other component and to frequently modify display device or other component operation as use of the portable computing device changes.